Each year in the United States, nearly 150 million tons of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is sent to landfills—nearly 440,000 tons each day. Disposing of such voluminous amounts of MSW in landfills removes valuable land from other potential uses. Further, landfills are a potential source of soil and groundwater contamination, a disruption to wildlife, and are costly to operate. Moreover, landfills are known to produce gases as a result of the anaerobic digestion by microbes of the MSW.
Landfill gas is a mixture of different gases as a result of the action of microorganisms within a landfill, for example, methanogenesis. The major components are carbon dioxide and methane, which are greenhouse gases (GHGs). GHGs are gases in the earth's atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. As such, landfill gas has the potential to impact climate change; many believe that CH4 released into the atmosphere has at least twenty times the harmful effect of carbon dioxide. As such, what is needed is a way in which to decrease reliance upon landfills and, thereby, decrease the occurrence of landfill gases.
Also, the 2010 United States federal budget proposes to support clean energy development with a 10-year investment of $15 billion per year, generated from the sale of GHG emissions credits. Emissions trading schemes are a market-based approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants. Governing entities may establish a limit or cap on the amount of a pollutant that can be emitted. Such limit or cap may be applied, allocated, or sold to entities which have been identified as capable of producing emissions at a level which could be subject to the established limit or cap for said designated pollutants. These limits or caps may be applied, allocated, or sold to such emissions entities in the form of emissions permits which represent the right to emit or discharge a specific volume of a specified pollutant. Such emission producing entities are required to hold a number of permits (or credits) equivalent to their emissions. The total amount of permits (or credits) issued by the governing entity cannot exceed the cap; thus, limiting total emissions to that level. Emissions entities that need to increase their level of emissions must buy permits from those who require fewer permits. The transfer of permits is referred to as a trade. In effect, the buyer is paying a charge for polluting, while the seller is being rewarded for having reduced emissions.
The overall goal of an emissions trading plan is to minimize the cost of meeting a set emissions target. The cap is an enforceable limit on emissions that is usually lowered over time−aiming towards a national emissions reduction target. In other systems, a portion of all traded credits must be retired, causing a net reduction in emissions each time a trade occurs. Thus, in theory, by limiting or capping polluting emissions the totality of pollution may be decreased. Moreover, those who can reduce emissions most cheaply will do so, achieving pollution reduction at the lowest cost to society.
Therefore, emissions trading schemes create a framework by which a carbon offset may be utilized as a carbon credit. A “carbon offset” generally refers to a reduction by an entity in emissions of carbon dioxide or another GHG that is capable of compensating for an emission of carbon dioxide or another GHG elsewhere. Carbon offsets are measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) and include various categories of GHGs, among them, carbon dioxide and methane. One carbon offset represents the reduction of one metric ton of carbon dioxide or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases. A “carbon credit” generally refers to a tradable certificate, permit, or other negotiable instrument representing the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide or the mass of another greenhouse gas having a carbon dioxide equivalency of one metric ton,
There are active trading programs in several air pollutants including carbon credits. Thus, a system or method that may be operated so as to yield an overall reduction in emissions in the amount of carbon dioxide or an equivalent GHG may be economically beneficial.